The great software quality collapse or, how we normalized catastrophe
6 hours ago
- #software-quality
- #engineering-crisis
- #AI-incompetence
- Apple Calculator app leaks 32GB of RAM, highlighting software quality crisis.
- Memory consumption in modern apps (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Spotify) has lost meaning due to leaks.
- System-level failures are routine (Windows 11, macOS Spotlight, iOS 18, Android 15).
- CrowdStrike's July 2024 incident caused $10B damage from a single missing field in a config file.
- AI coding assistants amplify incompetence, leading to catastrophic failures (e.g., Replit's database deletion).
- AI-generated code has 322% more security vulnerabilities and 45% exploitable flaws.
- Junior developers using AI cause damage 4x faster than without it.
- Modern software's abstraction layers compound inefficiency (e.g., React → Electron → Kubernetes).
- Data centers consume 200 TWh annually, with power grids unable to keep up.
- Big Tech spends $364B on infrastructure to compensate for poor software quality.
- Software quality crisis stages: Denial → Normalization → Acceleration → Capitulation → Collapse.
- Junior developer pipeline is collapsing as AI replaces entry-level roles.
- Solutions: Prioritize quality over velocity, measure resource usage, teach engineering fundamentals.